Chapter 23: the Wizard's Tower
Several dark wizards were standing in a ruined stone circle, with a strange, evil, glowing altar in the centre. The sky rumbled with thunder, and the rain hammered on the people standing below. The Herblore witch was standing next to the gang, reading from an old textbook. Her hair was dishevelled, and her clothes were filthy. She whimpered every few seconds. "Right," she said nervously, as the dark wizards watched her. "One of the ingredients for this awful potion you want is the essence of Delrith." The dark wizards gasped and gave each other sideways glances. "That requires a complicated spell that only those of evil blood may perform, so for that I cannot help you." The dark wizards muttered to each other for a few seconds, and then they nodded and began fanning out and saying strange words to thin air.
I woke up with a start. I was sweaty, and my clothes stuck to my skin. I had another nightmare. I sat up in bed. In the bed next to me was Osrie1. Last night had been the most exiting night of my life, where I went trick or treating and explored Draynor Village. I set off a firework, a strange invention made by Aggie the Witch of Draynor, which flew up in the sky and filled it with colourful sparks. Afterwards, I found Osrie1 with several pots of candy near the mine, eating happily. We then went off to the hotel where he told me about his night and I told him about mine. All he had done was borrow some priest robes from the church, in exchange for 20gp. He had gone around Lumbridge trick or treating, but he only made one pot of candy, since he couldn't trick many people. I showed him my Halloween emotes and he was terrified.
Today my schedule was, eat some of Maggie's goulash for breakfast, and go to the wizards' tower to do several things. First I wanted to get the skull of the restless ghost back for him, I wanted to show the air talisman to the head, and I wanted to ask around about the Herblore master.
I shook Osrie1 awake, and explained to him about my nightmare.
"Wassa matta mate? It's just a dream," he yawned groggily to me. I sighed, and handed him his breakfast from my bag. Maggie had told me if I wanted more she was there for the next few days. Osrie1 looked disgustedly at the glowing green sludge.
"What the Zamorak is this?" he asked me. I smiled reassuringly at him, and took out another bowl. I took a spoon Maggie had given me, and ate the goulash ravenously. I was very hungry, but the warm, rich food filled my insides. Osrie1 took the spoon I had given him, and, looking reluctant, took a spoonful of goulash.
His disgusted look turned slowly to one of delight. He ate more and more goulash, looking happier and happier with every spoonful. After a few minutes we had finished our food.
"That proves you shouldn't judge things by their look," he told me. I nodded in agreement. I decided to set off to the bank. I went out the room, the door behind us turning back into a stone wall with a glowing hole in a brick. I climbed up the ladder, and Osrie1 followed me. I went across the bridge as the guard saluted us. I went into the bank building and joined the considerably short queue.
Once I was in the front, the bank lady smiled at me, and opened my account. There wasn't much in, and I saw a small pile of gold, a chef's hat, a shiny, sparkling emerald, and several more objects. I put in my neatly folded dark wizard's robes, and my goulash. I closed my bank account, thanked the bank lady, and left for Draynor.
I walked out of Lumbridge, up the mud path, and into Draynor, Osrie1 following me. I scanned the sky with my eyes, and found a shiny marble spiky turret. It leads just past ahead of Draynor. It was only tower I could see for miles, so I went towards it. I passed the bank, I passed some woodcutters cutting down willow trees (there was a dark wizard eyeing me, but I hurried past him). Up ahead there was a black knight. I froze. He was wearing the same kind of armour the people the kidnapped the head Herblore master had on! I tiptoed past him, and he barely spared a glance at me. I hurried past him, and saw a long bridge.
This bridge was made of very shiny, polished blue marble. It leads over a lake that went right around the tower. The tower itself was massive, gigantic, colossal; shiny….it was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. I walked across it, in awe of the amazing architecture of the tower. Outside the polished yew door, there were several level nine, twenty, and forty-five wizards wearing blue clothes. There was a level 10 man, who was wearing a steel plate body, a gold-trimmed wizard's hat, mithril plate legs, and was holding a shiny white two-handed sword. I decided to ask him for help.
"Excuse me-," I began. He looked at me, then yelled, and leaped towards me.
"Aha! A noob! I am Capablanca the noob protector, and I am here to protect you from any dangers that way come to you here. Since the kidnap of the Herblore head, I have been assigned to guide you through this tower. No harm will come to you while I am here!" he shouted, frightening the life out of me. I walked past him, and he followed me and Osrie1.
Inside the first floor was a spiral staircase leading upwards, a rickety ladder leading downwards, and another shiny yew door. I went into the door, and found several wizards, who were poring over books. There were lots of bookshelves and tables and stools, and there was a large model of the galaxy in the corner. I went out the room, Capablanca and Osrie1 hot on my trail. I decided to climb down the ladder into the basement, and I climbed down.
Down here was quite different from above. There were rocks and there were spiky stones all over the walls and ceiling, and it was very grimy. Gulping, I stepped around the corner. Chickens were all over the place, pecking the floor innocently. It was my idea of hell. I crept past the chickens, and spotted a stone door. I opened it quietly, and slipped inside, with osrie1 and Capablanca following me.
Inside the walls and ceiling were still made of stone, but in here it was highly polished. There was a small round table and a carved mahogany chair. There was a small bookcase in the corner, with only a dozen books on them. There were a few chickens in a cage nearby, and on a hat rack there were several wizards' hats, some black (like the one in my wizard robes), some blue, some gold, and one blue with a gold trim. In a glass cabinet with a lock, there was a hunk of grey, sparkling stone, on top of a battered old map. I walked inside, noticing a large stick with an orb on top. The orb was filled with a very strange white mist. I picked the stick up. Capablanca pulled out a hand to stop me.
"We are in the private study of the head wizard of this tower! You'd better leave his mystic staff alone, or he won't be very happy," he warned. I nodded, and put the stick down. But, at that moment, a wave of brown mud came at me from the direction of the door. I was knocked back into the stone wall. I stood up, winded, and saw a very angry-looking wizard brandishing a wand at me.
This man was very old and frail, with a long silver beard. But, there was a spark in his eyes-a spark that showed power, energy, and wisdom. He wore blue wizard robes and a hat with a gold trim, and he held a pouch full of runes in his hand. He was level 156. He roared with anger.
"How dare you touch my staff?" he roared, grabbing his staff. He sent a wave of flames towards me. I yelped, and dodged the flames. He sent a powerful blast of light at me, and I dodged it. Capablanca jumped forward, and took the next wave of water. He fell backwards, and jumped back up.
"Mainiac97 didn't do anything with your staff, Sedridor!" Capablanca yelled. Sedridor looked at him doubtfully. "Are you sure, Capablanca? I saw him holding it."
"But sir, he was only looking. He is a noob, after all," Capablanca pointed out. Sedridor sighed, and sat down.
"So, what did you come here for?" Sedridor asked.
"Well, there are several reasons why I came. The first is this." I showed him the Duke's talisman to him. "Do you have any idea of what it is?" I asked. Sedridor gasped.
"That, my friend, is a most sacred magical object! I sense its power…. Hang on a second," he muttered. "This will take a large amount of study. I have been researching a secret, a secret so secret that many centuries ago; this tower was burnt to the ground to avoid anybody finding out about it. I have a research package that I could complete if I can just borrow this. Could I have it? If you visit this sacred site again, I shall give the package, including the talisman. You could pass it on to somebody else," he suggested. "For now, just inform the Duke that you gave it to me." I nodded, and he pocketed the talisman.
"Also, I wanted to ask, have you seen any skulls lying around?" I asked. Sedridor gave me a look of great interest.
"Up ahead there is the dark wizard's secret room. I am an enemy of the dark wizards, but unfortunately, the master of magic, who lives far away, in Yanille, gave them permission to study here. I have no power to overrule the word of the master of magic, so therefore I cannot stop them from staying in their room. Saradomin knows what kind of evils they are cooking up in there. You are most likely to find a skull in their room, since it is an ingredient in most evil potions. Nobody here would ever use a skull in potion or magic, so you are most likely to find it in there," Sedridor said. I nodded.
"The last thing I wanted to ask is do you know anything about the kidnap of the Herblore head?" I asked. Sedridor's face darkened.
"Of course I know about her kidnap!" Sedridor muttered. "Some black knights kidnapped her! It's quite unusual for the black knights to be interested in us. The world is getting plagued by evil, death, and mystery. Have you seen creatures getting restless? The ghosts, the zombies, the spiders, the dragons….it is all strange. Some people seem to be more evil then usual. Like, the dark wizards, and the black knights. The knights have been blackmailing the white knights for a while about something. And, dark wizards seem to be doing some kind of ritual. All across the world it is happening….in the wilderness, in the stone circle near Varrock, and even here!" Sedridor muttered darkly. "I don't know why they kidnapped her, but all I do know is that they need her desperately for something."
It was then that I considered telling him about my dreams. The one where the black knights were torturing that innocent witch, when the dark wizards were forcing her to tell them about the mysterious potion …..
In the end I told him everything. About my dreams, my suspicions, everything I could remember. He listened to me patiently, before he waved me off, thanking me for the talisman.
I walked further down the corridor, with Capablanca and Osrie1 following me. I passed a wizard in dark robes and a black wizard's hat. He glared at me as he passed.
At the end of the passage, I saw two rotting doors, hanging off their hinges. Here, the walls were especially grimy, and the rock floor was bumpy, like a mountain path. One door had black light going underneath it, and was locked when I tried to open it. The other door collapsed when I grabbed the handle.
Inside there was an altar and a bloody skeleton in the corner. There was a dagger in the skeleton's hand. The altar, however, looked different. The golden bowl on top of the altar was rusty, and the water was grimy. The altar looked like it was made of very weak cardboard. At closer inspection, I saw two rusty gold hinges by the side. I realised this wasn't a real altar, but a box. I opened the hinges, and inside I saw a skull.
I realised this was the ghost's skull, since it was the only one I could see so far. I picked it up, but then, the altar/box collapsed. Then, as I was about to leave, I heard a screech from behind me.
I turned around slowly, and saw the skeleton. The eye sockets had red lights in them, and the red eyes looked murderous. I realised it was level 27. I stepped back cautiously. Capablanca had run away, and Osrie1 looked horrified.
The skeleton screeched again, and lunged towards us. I dodged just in time. Osrie1 bravely fired an air strike at the skeleton, only for it to glance off the skeleton's bones. I swiped my scythe at him. It must have caused some damage, because I felt the skeleton lose five hit points, and screech in apparent pain. The skeleton charged forward, and knocked into me. Winded, I crawled in the corner, as Osrie1 desperately fired another air strike. It hit the skeleton, who lost two hit points, and screeched again. I saw fireworks rise around Osrie1, and he seemed to have raised a magic level. He grinned, took out some body runes and other runes. He fired a flash of purple at the skeleton, which ceased from swiping at me with its dagger, and stumbled around, confused. I checked my magic guide, to find out that Osrie1 had cast the spell confuse. It confused the foe temporarily, leaving it prone to attack. I smiled, and swiped at it again with my scythe. It lost two hit points. Osrie1 hit it with several wind strikes, making it lose seven hit points in total. I swiped it again, making it lose one hit point. It snapped out of its confusion, screeched, and ran towards me.
Just then, the door flew open, and a large brown, cracked ball flew towards the skeleton. It screeched one more time, and collapsed into dust. I sighed with overwhelming relief, and fell back, panting. I turned around to see Capablanca standing there, holding a staff of magic, with his white two-handed sword in his belt. He smiled. I thanked him, before picking up the skull that lay on the floor. I put it in my backpack. He informed me the spell I just saw was crumble undead, a spell used
I walked back down the corridor and back up the stairs back into the tower itself. I saw some more logs on the floor. I saw another ladder that led up. I climbed up the ladder.
There was a man nearby wearing strange armour that looked like it was made of strong wood. A nearby open door revealed a man wearing wizard's robes and hat, pacing around the room, muttering to him. There was a portal nearby, next to a sign that read 'Rune crafting guild-for people over level 50 rune crafting only!' I passed the portal, and saw a closed door with the words 'Herblore centre' on it. Heart hammering with anticipation, I knocked a few times on the door.
"WHO'S THERE? YOU MAY NOT ENTER WITHOUT PERMISSION!" a nervous-sounding man yelled.
"I am mainiac97, this is Osrie1, and here is Capablanca the noob protector, and I ask permission to enter!" I half-yelled back through the door. There was some muttering, and then the door unlocked and opened in front of me.
There was a large table with several comfortable-looking chairs behind it. There was a bookshelf filled with large, dusty old tomes about plants and potions. There were two open cupboards. One was full of glass vials, and the other was full of glass jars with potion ingredients. There was a jumpy-looking short man sitting on a chair. He was holding a jar filled with gummy-looking weeds. He jumped, and the jar of plant fell on the floor, smashing and sending the contents flying all over the floor.
"Hello there," I said cheerfully to him. He gave me a searching look, before replying.
"I am the d-deputy h-h-head of the Herblore department of the wizard's tower. As you know, of c-course, the head has been m-mysteriously kidnapped by b-b-black knights, and the guards can't find a trace of her. She is a brave w-w-woman, so I am p-pretty sure s-she wills b-b-b-be OK," the man stuttered. I looked at him pityingly.
"Well, all I wanted to ask is this. Do you know anything about some evil potion that needs a portion of the essence of Delrith to complete?" I asked. The man jumped.
""I do not know of a-any kind of e-evil potion," he said very nervously. "The d-dark wizards in the b-basement study t-those potions. But, it c-c-can't be g-good if it needs e-e-essence of Delrith t-to complete. Delrith w-w-was a v-very evil demon that and terrorised Varrock m-many years ago. He w-was killed by a great h-hero, and only the m-most evil rituals can b-bring him b-back. But, he w-was a murderer, so nobody in their r-right mind could want him back, especially for s-s-something as trivial as an e-e-evil potion ingredient."
I stood there for several seconds, considering the information I had just taken in. So, Delrith was an evil demon that lived years ago, and kept Varrock in a state of despair? It must be a bad potion if they need essence of this demon to make it. I thanked the stuttering potion-maker for his time and information, and left.
I went up the stairs to the top floor. A strange sight met my eyes. There was total chaos here. There were a few chairs on the floor, with creatures I recognised as imps were screaming with mirth, throwing them around. When they saw me, they bickered comically, and started pelting the three of us with bits of paper. I ran past the giggling imps, around the corner. I yelled for Osrie1 and Capablanca to stay there and take care of the mischievous imps.
It was pandemonium around here. A man in blue robes was screaming in fury as imps stole items from under his hat and his pockets. He was standing next to a strange machine with an amulet-shaped hole in the middle, with beads of different colours in slots around the amulet-shaped one. A few imps grabbed the beads, and disappeared in a puff of smoke. The wizard shot spells pointlessly at the laughing imps, all which were coming from behind a door. I swiping at a few of them with my scythe, I forced myself through the door.
A wizard in dark robes was using a spell to summon imps by the million. They rose around him, landed, and ran towards the door. The room was bathed in a dark light, which was coming from a large, black glass orb floating near the ceiling. There was a bookshelf with several books, several slimy things in jars, several orbs filled with smoke of different colours, and even a rotting, bony hand, congealing on the top shelf on it. In the corner, past a rusty, bloodstained cage, there was a furious-looking demon, smashing uselessly against the bars. In the corner of the bloody and messy cage, there was a skeleton that looked like it has been licked clean.
The demon was gigantic-it had long, horrific horns, scaly, ember-red skin, yellow, rolling, bloodshot, livid eyes, and had the complexion of the devil. It was level 82, and it was roaring, thrashing against the bars of the cage. The dark wizard narrowed his eyes at the sight of me.
"Who are you?" he snapped.
"I am Mainiac97. And, who may I ask, are you?" I replied coldly.
"I am an evil sorcerer Greyzag, who specializes in summoning imps. I am taking out my enemy across the door, who believes my form of magic is 'ridiculous and plainly evil'. I showed him how ridiculous it is! You see that skeleton over there," he said, gesturing towards the skeleton in the demon's cage. "That is the remains of his friend and assistant. I took-or, better yet, my pet here, took- out that idiotic youngster, so full of ideas about good and evil." I backed away, disgusted. Apparently, this man didn't care about what he does, or who he kills, as long as it has a permanent negative effect. I ran away, ignoring the taunts coming from Greyzag.
I saw Osrie1, Capablanca, and the magician fighting the imps. I joined in, slashing at the helpless creatures, who were now getting overpowered. I felt fireworks rise up around me, indicating I had risen to level 3 in strength. With the extra energy, I slashed with more vigour then needed, sending an imp into a wall. When it appeared that Greyzag had given up, we sat down on the upturned seats.
"Well hello there. My name is Mizgog, and I am a wizard elder of the tower. I have dabbled in strange magic's that the others haven't. I use magic's that create objects out of other objects. It is quite top-secret, of course, but Wizard Greyzag in the other room disagrees. He has his own power of summoning imps and demons. He kidnapped my assistant and murdered him using his pet demon!" Mizgog cried.
Wizard Mizgog was a frail old man, but his robes and hat were a dark shade of blue, and his gloves were a strange puce. His eyes looked quite misty, and had a glazed look to them.
"Well anyway, what leads you up here?" Mizgog asked. "And I expected better of you when I hired you, Capablanca! You assured me the safety the safety of the tower while you were around. Wandering off with guests, and when that brute Madrey1 tried to butcher poor Traiborn you got swept away easily!" He then sighed as a terrified-looking Capablanca Muttered something indistinguishable.
"We wanted to pass something to Head Sedridor," I said. "And we wanted to look for a stolen skull. We found it now, but we just came up here out of curiosity. Did those imps steal anything off you?" I asked, concerned for the frail magician on the verge of collapsing.
"They didn't steal anything valuable," Mizgog said, searching his pockets. "My ball of wool is gone, I didn't need that anyway…..I can't find my spare gloves, I never liked them anyway….my coins are gone, I've got more in the bank……my trinkets have been stolen! But I can replace them, and they contain no secrets…." Mizgog muttered, before he screamed. "My coloured beads are gone!!" He jumped up, and emptied his pockets. Smelly nuts, burnt cookies, and a few sparkly shapes fell on the floor. The poor wizard dissolved into tears.
"If someone kills an imp and finds a bead, my secrets are down the drain if they are given in for inspection! There is no hope; imps are good targets for training." Mizgog then sat up, his eyes shining with anticipation. "Unless…..will you two boys look for my beads for me? Kill as many imps as you can, and if you find a bead, give it to me! But there are so many imps in the world; you'll have a hard time finding all four of them. I'll be so grateful if you find them all before those dark wizards." He gave me a begging look, and I felt myself soften towards the frail, helpless old wizard.
"OK," I said. Mizgog jumped up with delight.
"Thank you!" He said joyously. "Capablanca, for your serious lack of judgement, you are dismissed. Good day." He then picked up the silver shapes, and murmured some words. They slowly melded together to form a strange-looking silver bracelet.
"This is a bracelet of power that I just crafted," Mizgog said. "Capablanca shall wear it, and I will craft you more once I get more energy from the beads." He waved us off, and began muttering more words to another silver shape.
I and Osrie1 left the tower, a miserable-looking Capablanca following us.
"I have nowhere to go now!" he cried sadly. "My family are dead, the white knights won't give me another job, and I have been fired from the tower!"
I considered him for a moment. He was stronger then us, and much more useful.
"How would you like to join us?" I asked quietly. He looked up, his eager face gleaming with tears.
"I would love to! Capablanca the noob protector is here, at your service!" He then bowed low to us. I chuckled.
"Next stop I guess is the restless ghost to return his skull. And while we are at it, we should have a word with the Duke about his talisman," I said. But then, something strange happened. A snowflake fell from the pink sky and on my nose. I looked curiously at the sky. It was snowing.
"Well, we should also train," Capablanca said. "But we should also wait for Christmas!" I smiled at the thought. I had a pleasant memory of Christmas…..but my smile vanished. I just remembered a gleaming, rosy, youthful face, wearing a jumper that had a picture of a Christmas pudding on it. I tried to grasp the sudden memory…..I remembered….a shiny metal object with wheels……belching smoke…..I screamed with the pressure I was applying to my brain to remember. I kneeled over, and the memory was gone as soon as it came. Osrie1 and Capablanca looked at me curiously. I sat up, and we set off towards Lumbridge, prepared for a celebration we weren't soon to forget-Christmas.